Great definition of a family physician.

I am NOT a generalist. 

I am NOT a provider.

I am NOT a practitioner. 

I am a medical professional who cares for complex and healthy patients regardless of age.  I am best understood as an integrationist. 

I integrate the mental, spiritual, and physical wellbeing of my patients, in the context of their families and community, to help them become whole. 

I integrate the sometimes disparate recommendations of medical specialist to insure that treatments that benefit one organ system does not damage another. 

I integrate and apply complex medical research on populations to the unique biology, needs, and goals of my patient.

I am the “pluripotent stem cell” of the medical community.  I start with a broad education and then adapt to the needs of my community to fill the voids in healthcare.

I am the marine of medicine.  I get the job done, often under harsh conditions.  To my patients, Semper fidelis.

                By Bruce Bushwick, M.D., York, PA